New Juve manager Maurizio Sarri has informed Cristiano Ronaldo of his intention to turn him into an out and out striker after their first face-to-face meeting.
After he met the Italian media for the first time since being confirmed as Allegri’s successor as Juventus manager on Thursday, Sarri flew out to the south of France with Juve chief Fabio Paratici.
Sarri’s fastidious approach and tactical approach was part of his undoing at Chelsea, where his deployment of N’Golo Kante in order to accommodate Jorginho drew criticism, while he also endured something of a love-hate relationship with Eden Hazard.
The Belgian, whose transfer to Real Madrid was confirmed last week, was often used in a false nine position last campaign despite having made an explosive start to the campaign in his preferred left-wing position.
Sarri also has a similar plan for Ronaldo and told the Portuguese star he will implement either a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 formation next campaign with the 34-year-old likely to spearhead his attack.
Ronaldo scored 28 goals in all competitions during his first season in Turin but Sarri is confident he can illicit even greater goalscoring exploits from the Portugal international.
‘I’ve trained great players over the years, but with Ronaldo I move on to the next level, a player who is at the top of the world,’ Sarri said on Thursday.
‘This is a lad with every record in world football and I’d like to help him set another, knowing I contributed to it.
‘I trained a player with the all-time Serie A record for goals in a single season. I’d like to make that two. It’d be an enormous satisfaction.’
Sarri had also hinted he sees futures for Paulo Dybala, linked with a summer move away from the club, and Gonzalo Higuain, whom he brought to Stamford Bridge on loan in the January window.
